mental link, day...36? sure.

[headinjuries]

[ Technically, it came up a few days ago, but Sam's been letting something bounce around in his head to see if the possibility gets less troublesome after he sleeps on it. And sleeps on it a couple more times.

or he's just saying it late so the newbies can hear it too, w/e

It's not getting any less freaky. So, out of left field: ]

( So if aliens can hack our emotions, do we...actually know they can't mess with everything else? Memories? Are we actually who we think we are?

What if there is no spoon? )

Comments

[snaphiss]

( Bruce is reminiscent of a street named after a wall. Thank you. That explains everything. )

[Earth is full of lunatics.]

[headinjuries]

[ SIGH this is clearly payback for nobody asking him why there hell there isn't a spoon and why there should be, isn't it. ]

( It's like. Business capital of the United States. Serious people doing serious things and wearing stupidly expensive suits that are probably also serious. )

[snaphiss]

[Amusement bubbles up over the link.]

( Yes. That's Bruce. )

( Maybe he's not being willfully bling, but he's not thinking about the larger possibilities. They don't need to change our minds to something synchronous. They need to change our minds to something that would make us more amenable to their cause. )

[headinjuries]

( Some of us I could see that being it. Some of us... )

[ He considers his broodmate Parker. The one who he's met all of once because she avoids them all as much as possible. ]

( ...I'm not so sure about. )

[snaphiss]

( Elaborate. )

[So chatty wow.]

[headinjuries]

( There are a couple people who don't seem too on-board with anything? I thought that was kind of a no-brainer. )

[snaphiss]

( I've only met people too happy to have all personality scooped out of their head like a Xwuqeen festival gourd. )

[I'm too lazy to look up a proper analogy on wookieepedia don't you dare judge me.]

( It's possible that is as cooperative as they get. There are obviously limits to what the symbiote can do, or they'd have us all as mindless drones the moment we got here. )

[headinjuries]

( There's one person in my brood who I've only met once between she hates everyone and spends as much time away from us as possible. )

[snaphiss]

( She sounds delightful. What does she do, hide under the bed all day? )

[headinjuries]

( I think she doesn't come back here much? Or maybe I just miss her like every single time. )

[snaphiss]

( What's her name? She seems like someone worth hunting down. )

[But anyway.]

( There are elements of this we can't possibly see or check. Basing the guess on the idea of yes or no is ridiculous. It's a matter of degrees. )

[headinjuries]

( Parker. )

[ And the rest of it...well. ]

( So what degree do you think we're at? )

[snaphiss]

( It's impossible to know. Like I said, we don't know all the variables. )

( I suggest you start writing things down. I suggest we all do. )

[headinjuries]

( School's in another galaxy entirely and I'm still gonna have to take notes. Awesome. )

[batmotif]

[Ears are burning here. Someone mentioning that he isn't thinking about the larger possibilities is borderline insulting, so he has to chime in.]

(That would be something to consider if that actually appeared to be the case. "Amenable" doesn't apply to everyone.)

[snaphiss]

( So of course it's impossible that the memory change only works on certain types of minds, or in certain ways, or we're being kept from seeing all the factors in this theory? )

[batmotif]

(It's not impossible. But complexity doesn't breed efficiency. It would be a convoluted way to go about it, with too many variables to count.)

[snaphiss]

( It only seems convoluted because we don't all the factors in play. The symbiote could have those capabilities in limited capacities. Tell me this: if it does, do you truly believe they wouldn't use them? )

[batmotif]

(That depends on your definition of "they" and exactly what you think their motivations are.

Everything is conjecture at this point. We could spend all day arguing in circles. What's important is that the possibility has been brought to everyone's attention, so we can at least assume that we have some modicum of free thought.)

[snaphiss]

( Since you're so enlightened, please educate me: What do you think their motives are? )

[batmotif]

(I never said I was enlightened. I only said that everything is conjecture, including any hidden motives that might exist.)

[But, you know. Since she asked--]

(The most obvious would be that they want us to fight a war for them, or we're slowly being pushed into completely integrating with a larger hivemind. As for what overall purpose, I feel we will have to understand our enemy more thoroughly to know that.)

[That's the one big question mark in this entire ordeal, the forces that they're supposed to be fighting against. Bruce has a nagging suspicion that too many mysteries are hiding behind that particular veil.]

[snaphiss]

( Don't be pedantic, be both know you're smarter than that. Well, one of us does. )

[They've progressed to the part of comradeship where she insults Bruce to get on his nerves, not because she hates him and wants him to die in a gutter. If that's not progress... well, it might not actually be progress.]

( Why would they do it slowly, if they want to win badly enough to kidnap children? )

[batmotif]

[Then they compliment each other well, because that insults just slides off Bruce like water off a duck. Or some other cliche-yet-fitting simile.]

(You said it yourself that we don't understand the symbiote fully. We don't know of its complete potential, nor its limitations. A slow integration may be all it's capable of, or they could be hoping that with enough time, we'd eventually grow to trust -- or just become apathetic -- of our situation.)

[They chose the wrong man if that's what they were hoping for.]

[snaphiss]

[Sand off a bantha's back, obviously.]

( We can agree on that, then. But I see no reason to close my mind to other possibilities, especially when doing so would benefit my kidnappers. )

[batmotif]

(Then there's two things we can agree on. I'm the last person here who's going to tell you to stop asking questions.)